1960s - Student: Sayyaf gets a degree in religious studies at Kabul University, before gaining a Masters at Al Azhar University in Egypt. The al Qaeda founder, Palestinian Abdullah Azzam attended the same university at about the same time

1970 - 1973 - Professor of Islamic Law at Kabul University

1973 - Sayyaf flees to Pakistan after partaking in a failed coup attempt in Kabul

1978 - Sayyaf returned to Afghanistan and was imprisoned before being released due to outside influence